US-based Indonesian singer Agnez Mo’s “no Indonesian blood” statement continues to be a hotly discussed topic in Indonesia, as experts and government officials give their takes on the contentious issue. Photo: Instagram/@agnezmo

US-based Indonesian singer Agnez Mo’s “no Indonesian blood” statement continues to be a hotly discussed topic in Indonesia, as experts and government officials give their takes on the contentious issue.

One such expert is Universitas Indonesia professor of international law Hikmahanto Juwana, who called into question Agnez Mo’s Indonesian citizenship if her claim was true.

“Agnez Mo’s statement in an interview that suggested she has no correlation with Indonesia except for [being her place of birth] calls for a review of her citizenship status… If Agnez Mo has Indonesian citizenship, then where she obtained it must be questioned,” Hikmahanto said in a written statement yesterday, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.

Hikmahanto cited Indonesia’s Citizenship Laws, which states that the country gives citizenship status based on parentage, not where a person was born.

That said, the Directorate General of Immigration of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights has confirmed that Agnez Mo is, in fact, an Indonesian citizen. They said that her Indonesian passport — valid until February 2021 — was issued by the Indonesian Consulate General in LA.

Meanwhile, the government is planning to utilize celebrities to promote nationalism to the public in light of the Agnez Mo controversy.

“We’ve planned to gather influencers, Youtubers, celebrities, and others to help the Defense Ministry amplify the spirit of Bela Negara (defending the nation) [and] nationalism to various groups of people. Because those people have the ability to spread the message to the public,” Defense Ministry spokesman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said yesterday, as quoted by Liputan 6.

Despite what Agnez said in the controversial interview, Dahnil seems convinced that Agnez Mo still has her sense of nationalism.

“I’m sure she still has a spirit of nationalism and bela negara, maybe some of us interpreted it in different ways, so that it raises pros and cons,” he continued.

The interview

Agnez recently sat down with host Kevan Kenney for an interview in Yahoo’s BUILD Series to talk about her singles Diamond and Nanana, as well as other aspects of her life and career.

When Kenney asked her about the diversity of Indonesian culture and commented on how she’s “a little different from everybody else” in the country, Agnez responded: “I actually don’t have Indonesian blood whatsoever. I’m actually German, Japanese, Chinese — I was just born in Indonesia. And I’m also Christian, which is [sic] in Indonesia the majority there are Muslims.”

She continued, “So I’ve always been kind of, you know, like, I’m not gonna say that I’ve felt that I don’t belong there, because I always felt like the people accepted me for who I was. But there’s always that sense of, ‘ugh… I’m not like everybody else’.”

The original interview was uploaded to Youtube on Friday, but this particular portion of the interview has been making its rounds on Twitter over the weekend leading many Indonesians to accuse Agnez of forgetting her roots.

Earlier today, Agnez took to Instagram once again to address those she said misleadingly took her statement out of context. She also said that she has forgiven those who “wanted to spread hatred” as well as the “clout chasers.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5VlVvqJV-s/

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